Wake Up Call Chapter One
by The Treblesome One
Summary: When Megan Sullivan and Amber Riley stumble upon the Autobots, they find out there is a whole lot more going on than they thought they did.
1. Chapter 1

This story occurs after the events that happen in the recent film, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". All characters mentioned are either a property of Hasbro or of myself, I only claim the rights to those characters I have created.

**Part 1: Unexpected Visitor**

It's late in the evening, the sky over Maryland has grown dark as a blonde twenty something and her dark haired companion make their way up the porch steps to a quaint ranch house on the edge of the nearby town.

As the blonde slides the key into the lock, her friend makes a comment that causes the girl to turn and laugh.

The blonde continues to laugh as they walk into the house, both chattering away about what the dark haired girl has said. The blonde shuts the door behind them, them proceeds to toss her keys on the counter closest to her. She stops as the dark haired girl sits herself down on a couch in the living room.

"What's up, Meg?" the dark haired girl asks of her friend.

The blonde shakes her head.

"It's nothing," she says, running her fingers through her blonde curls.

The dark haired girl simply shrugs, relaxing against the couch while the blonde nips at her finger nails while surveying the kitchen for food.

"Where'd you say you dad was gonna be tonight?" the dark one inquired.

Megan looked up from the fridge, hand resting on the top of the door, nails rapping against the glossy exterior.

She bit her lip.

"I have no idea, the man's an enigma," Megan replied with a sigh. She sat next to her friend with a bowl of Chex Mix in between them.

"Do you think he's telling you the truth?" her friend said, grabbing a fistful of the snack food. Megan began rubbing her temple.

"No, I don't, Amber, I haven't for the past few years,"

"So this isn't the first time he's done it to you?"

"I don't know what he's been up to, it all started four years ago, I know that, and ever since then, he's been...elusive..." she shifted in her seat. "I know I shouldn't worry but, where the hell does he go when he's gone?"

Amber studied Megan with a pair of watchful blue eyes, then tossed her head so as to remove her bleached bangs from her eye sight, revealing a flash of lilac purple hidden in her hair.

"You're allowed to worry, he's your father,"

"I just wish he'd tell me something! He was always on me about keeping secrets, now look at him! Calling the kettle black..." she got up from her seat. "I need a beer..."

No sooner had she left the couch and retrieved the beer,then the whole house began shaking violently. Amber looked at her friend in panic.

"An earthquake?"

Megan grabbed onto the counter firmly as the shaking came to a stop,just as soon as it had begun.

"Another one?" She said quizzically, checking for any damage. Amber shrugged.

"A lot of strange things have been happening,you never know," she remarked."Another earthquake could have happened, just saying."

"I don't think it was an earthquake," Megan said, shooting her friend a look with a raised eyebrow. Amber shrugged again to which Megan rolled her eyes. She opened a drawer and pulled out a flashlight.

"Come on, I think it came from outside,"

She walked to the back yard and turned on the flashlight,shining it around to see if there was,indeed, anything out there to see. Amber folded her arms across her chest and followed her friend into the night.

"See anything?" she asked, rubbing her hands on her arms to try and warm herself up. Megan shook her head.

"Nothing," she sighed, bringing the flashlight down to her side.

"So? What do we do?"

"So, we keep on looking," Megan said as she moved through the back yard, looking every which way. Amber rolled her eyes and let out a groan.

"It's cold! Do you really want to keep looking?"

"Yes! I do! I want to know what that noise was because I'm damn sure-" she stopped when something caught her attention. Her flashlight had caught something shiny and yellow. Her eyes shot upwards and her jumped back with a gasp. She managed to drop the flashlight in the process. She stumbled back in awe of what she had seen. It was as tall as a two story house, with numerous mechanical devices throughout it's body, it's eyes(if you could call them that) were an unearthly blue that blinked at her in curiosity, it's golden-amber armor glinted in the rays of the flashlight. She noted two winglike structures on his back-wings,no, doors, like the doors on a car! She scanned his form a little more until she saw a nasty scar that stretched across the front side of his form. He was wounded. But it wasn't the wound that had Megan curious, it was the fact that parts of the robot's form were similar to that of a car.

"You poor thing," she said with concern, taking a step towards the strange creature who backed off slightly. Even this small move caused him to clutch at the wound to his chest.

"It's okay!" she said, trying her best to calm him down."I'm not going to hurt you, just, let me take a look,"

The robot gave her a cautious glance, then moved him massive hand away from the wound. Megan moved closer to examine the wound, running her fingers over the jagged surface.

"It's like you got attacked by something," she muttered,then looking up at him."How did it happen?" she asked. The robot hesitated, then spoke,through the radio, using some sort of program that was playing the sound effects for a movie that involved sword fights.

"A sword?"

The robot nodded. Megan bit her lip, then turned to Amber."And here I'd thought it'd be an easy fix!" She laughed.

"Do you think it was him that made the noise?" Amber asked, staring up at the robot in disbelief. Mean nodded.

"I mean, he's pretty big, what else could have made that kind of sound?"

Amber could on shrug in reply.

"Exactly," she turned back to the robot."My dad, he's pretty good with cars, you're not much different from a car, if you stick around long enough, he might be able to fix you up,"

The robot seemed hopeful, but only for a moment.

"What? Don't you trust me?" Megan asked.

The robot shook his head and waved his arms, as if to say,_No! It's not that!_ He searched for a station to convey what he meant and they song "You've got a Friend in Me" started playing. Megan understood now.

"Oh, you have friends!" she exclaimed."Look,I'm sure they're worried about you, but you can barely move as it is, we fix you up now, you'll be back in no time," she beamed. He considered the idea and nodded approvingly.

"So, you're really going to try to fix a giant robot?" Amber questioned.

"No, I'm going to attempt to fix a giant robot,"

The Sullivans live on a ranch not too far off from the nearest town, but far enough away to not be bothered by anyone, so moving a giant robot into a stable-converted-to-garage was no big deal, even if it was no small feat. Once safely inside, the robot looked around, hunched over due to height. Megan leaned against a container that stored a bunch of tools while Amber walked around their new companion.

"What do you think he is?" she asked, looking at the blonde.

"To be honest? I have no clue, he looks like a big toy,"

"yeah, a big toy that fights things," Amber pointed out. But Megan wasn't paying attention, she was staring at the symbol on the robot's head, just above the eyes. It was small, red, and was oddly shaped.

"What on Earth are you?" Megan whispered. Another radio station search.

"_...Tranquility base here,the Eagle has landed..."_

Her head shot up,"That's it!" she exclaimed with wide eyes. She ran over to a table to grab something.

"What's 'it'?" Amber asked as Megan brought over something wrapped up in an old rag.

"He's not from Earth! Don't you get it Amber? What kind of robot, from Earth looks like that! What happened that day in Chicago, you know? The day everyone said the world was going to end?" she turned to the robot."You were there, weren't you? You were one of the good guys,"

Another approving nod.

Megan smiled and proceeded to unwrap the object in her hand.

"My dad, he found this on one of his missions, do you know what it is?" she asked, holding it up to the robot. It was some kind of rock, dark in a color that was nearly indistinguishable. It appeared to be charred, by what, who knows.

The robot looked at it in shock and snatched it away from the girl.

"So you do know what it is!" she said."Good!" she held out a hand, wanting the shard back. He shook his head.

"Well you can't just take it!" she told him"My dad's going to wonder where it is!"

He glared down at her with a look that said,_this is for your own good._ Megan was taken back by his expression.

"Alright, geez, if it means that much to you, keep it!" she said.

Satisfied, the robot lifted the shard to try and get a better look at it. He was studying it when all of a sudden, he appeared to be doubled over in pain, clutching the shard tight within his grasp. He let out a sound,something like a scream,but it was unintelligible.

"What's going on?" Amber asked.

"I don't know! What's wrong?" Megan asked frantically. The thing couldn't respond even if it wanted to.

"It's that shard!" Amber said,"It's hurting him!"

"Then we have to get it away from him!"

"WE! Hell no! Your shard! Your problem!"

Megan accepted the challenge,running up to the robot.

"Give me the shard!" she said firmly. He shook his head.

"Look! If you're not careful, that thing's going to end up hurting you! Hand it over!" she demanded. He shot her a death glare and tried to smack her away with his elbow.

She took a few steps back, the regained her composer,"I'm not giving up that easily," she then went up and tried to retrieve the shard from his hand, as if he didn't have ten times her strength.

She managed to get her hands to the shard, only to feel as if she had been zapped by some sort of electric pulse and thrown backwards onto the ground.

All she could recall was a brilliant flash of blur light,unlike anything she'd ever seen before. She sat up slowly and heard Amber calling her name.

"That was crazy!" she exclaimed, helping Megan sit up. The blonde looked around in confusion.

"Where'd he go?" she asked, not seeing the robot any more. Amber looked up.

"That's odd," she said, getting up to look for any evidence of the creature's whereabouts. Megan was still trying to recount what exactly had happened in that moment where she touched the shard. She scratched her head, then looked down at her hand. There was blood on it, her blood. She had cut her hand on the shard. But, how? What happened? What was that shard? Who was the robot? Better yet, where had he gone? This evening had gone from weird to confusing in a matter of hours.

"Megan!" Amber called from across the garage."You're not going to believe this!"

Megan rose to her feet, dusted herself off, and went to where her friend was.

"Come on!"

"I'm coming! Geez!" she stood next to Amber."What's up?"

Amber pointed to something on the floor,"I think I found our friend,"

Megan looked and saw a young man, about her and Amber's age lying there, unconscious. His hair was sandy blonde in color, and his skin a deep tan. Lucky for the girls, he was fully clothed. Her hands when over her mouth.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed."Do you really think that's him?"

"Who else would he be?" she asked.

"Oh no,how is that possible? I mean,"

"Meg! It doesn't matter how it happened! It happened! And now we have to deal with it!" she said gesturing to the body. Megan let out a sigh.

"We can't leave him here, who knows what'll happen if he wakes up," Megan stared at the body.

"Meg?"

"Yeah?"

"How are we going to explain this to your dad?"


	2. Chapter 2

This story occurs after the events that happen in the recent film, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". All characters mentioned are either a property of Hasbro or of myself, I only claim the rights to those characters I have created.

**Part 2:Breakfast**

Megan stared down at the stranger who was now laying on the couch in her living room. She was baffled, utterly baffled by what had happened earlier that evening, and now sat with her hands bandaged next to some guy she didn't know and may or may not be a giant robot.

She reached her hand over and placed it on his forehead,he was burning up. Getting up, she moved to the kitchen to get some ice for his head. She heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey, I better go, Stephen's back from grad-school," she looked over to the man on the couch."You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah,I'll be fine, he's got a fever, but,I'll be fine," Megan said quietly.

"I'll call you in the morning?"

Megan smiled."Yeah, should be an interesting morning," she rolled her eyes.

Amber left, Megan let out a sigh and leaned against the counter, running her fingers through her bangs in distress. She looked over at the man on the couch, then walked over to the seat next to him, placing the ice pack on his forehead. She leaned back and continued to stare at the man.

"Who are you? What are you?" she muttered under her breath. Right as she said this,the man's hand dropped from his side and something landed on the floor. She picked it up, only to discover it was the rock shard from earlier. She snatched it off the ground.

"So it is you!" she exclaimed,looking between the shard and the man."I get it now,you were afraid something was going to happen, weren't you?...And it did,you're a human now,' she bit her lip and set the shard down on the table next to the couch and slumped back into the chair. She let out a yawn,reaching for the light switch. Kicking up her feet and leaning her head against the arm rest, she closed her eyes and remembered something her father always used to tell her,

"Cheer up kid, things'll be better in the morning,"

But the next morning? Well, one wouldn't exactly call it better.

Megan woke up with a start, as if her entire body sensed all at once that something was wrong. She looked around in panic,but nothing was wrong, She did noticed she currently had a blanket draped over her. Her father was home. She swallowed. Had he seen the stranger laying on the couch? Did he notice the shard? No, of course not, he would have been too tired to see that. Light had already begun to filter in through the windows, suggesting that it was later in the morning. She rolled off of the couch and checked the stranger with a quick glance. His fever had broken, but that was about all that had changed. She removed the ice pack from his forehead and laid the blanket over his body. In the kitchen, she found a note addressed to her stating that her father was,in fact, not home but would be back that evening and hope everything was alright with her. She sighed and closed the letter, the words seemed empty to her, there was nothing there except for the possibility of a false promise. Her train of thought was interrupted by a sound from the living room and she rushed to see what had happened.

From what she could tell, the strange had fallen onto the floor,

"That's a nasty way to wake up," she said to herself with a cringe.

It took him a moment,but he rose to his knees and grunted. A hand ran through his hair and the other rested on his back as he let out another grunt and finally opened his eyes. They were blue, an almost unnatural blue, similar to that of his robotic eyes. A look of confusion came across his face when he saw himself staring at a carpeted surface. The hand on his head came down in front of his face of his face and he wiggled his fingers just to see if the responded to his movement. He brought the other one up as well and that's how he knew the impossible had happened. Megan hesitated, then opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't scream," she said. He whipped around to face her, eye still wide from shock."Whatever you do, please, don't scream," she took a step forwards. She could see the fear in his eyes, but what was she supposed to do?"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm not going to hurt you,I just want to help you," it was a little too late for that, he was up on his feet and took off running out the front door. Megan followed him and yelled from the door way.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" she snapped. He stopped dead in his tracks."You knew that shard was dangerous, why don't you come back here and tell me what the hell it is?" she demanded. He looked back at her over his shoulder, a look that seemed to ask,_"Can I trust you?"_ She rolled her eyes.

"Of course you can trust me you idiot, now get back here!" she waved him back to the house. He waited a moment, took a step and kept moving towards the house.

"You'd better start talking, otherwise this is going to be a long morning!" Megan continued as she punched a number into her phone.

The stranger looked around, not having quite taken in his surroundings yet.

"...It's all so...much bigger," he managed to say in a horse voice. Megan looked at him.

"Good! Progress!" she gave him a thumbs up then returned to her conversation."Hello? Stephen?...Yeah hi, I'm...?...It's Megan? Megan Sullivan? You know, Amber's friend?...Yeah, can you put her on for me?...Thanks," She looked up again to find him staring at her.

"What?"

"...Megan...That's a pretty name," he commented. Megan was slightly stunned and a little confused.

"...Thanks?" He just smiled back,then returned to the couch where he had been earlier. Megan was finally able to get a hold of Amber and told her that he was awake and to come down as soon as possible.

He was looking at his hands sceptically when she went to sit near him,the blanket sitting between them. Neither one of them looked at the other at first.

"...So,what's your name?" Megan asked. Instead of answering, he grabbed at his neck where Megan had noticed an odd wound.

"...It's...Bumblebee..." he told her quietly, as he was not quite used to talking or the sound of his own voice. Megan raised an eyebrow and laughed lightly. He shot her a look.

"I should have known! I mean, you are a guy who does seem to have a habit of wearing yellow and black," she tugged at the sleeve of the jacket he was wearing, black with yellow trim made of soft, well worn leather. He looked down at her hand, then at her. She retracted it quickly, unnerved by his gaze."...Sorry," she muttered.

Bumblebee ran his fingers through his hair.

"Hair,I have hair!" he exclaimed in frustration."Arms,legs, eyes, nose...this is really confusing,"

"As an actual human,I can tell you it's easy once you get used to it, but the figuring it out part is the hardest part,you've already got walking and talking down so I'd say you're doing pretty well so far,"

He just looked at her.

"What? I'm completely serious, you'll get used to it,"

"Well what if I don't want to get used to it?" he snapped,bolting upright. "What if I liked being the way I was? Everything was perfectly fine, and then...!"

He noticed the look on Megan's face,one of disappointment, disapproval even,so he stopped and sank back into the couch. He was not one to want to disappoint anyone.

They were silent a minute,then Megan spoke.

"Look,all I'm saying is, right now, there's no clear way to change you back,I hate to sound rude, but I think you're just going to get used to this,"

"So you mean, live a lie? Pretend to be someone I'm not?" he questioned.

"On the outside, yes,but on the inside,you're still..." she looked him over. "What are you?A side from the giant robot part,"

"Giant,transforming, alien robot, to be exact," Bumblebee corrected with a shake of his head."I've heard that so many times,it's almost sickening,"

"Okay, is there an easier way to say that?" Megan asked.

He made a sound that was almost a laugh."So someone actually wants the simple version," he said sarcastically."I'm an Autobot," he told her.

"An Autobot? What...No, don't tell me,I want Amber to be here to hear this too," she said,stopping herself.

"Was she the girl that was with you last night?"

"Yes,she was," Megan said as she moved to the kitchen. "You know, for a guy who had to use the radio to talk as a robot, you sure don't have that much trouble now," she pointed out.

He grinned,almost as if he were proud of something,"Yeah," he said,"I could've talked, but,I got so used to using the radio that I never bothered.

"Sneaky! Here," she said, handing him a glass of water and a few pills.

He rolled the pills over in his hand."Those should help with any pain you have," she told him,staring at the scar on his neck."Is that the reason you couldn't talk?" she asked. Self-consciously, his hand went to his neck as soon as he swallowed the pills,

"Yeah,I was attacked by...something that left my vocal processor damaged,it still hurts,"he explained."Just another excuse to use the radio," he stared down at the remaining water in the glass then smiled."You should have seen a friend of mine,scars everywhere,you couldn't imagine the number of scraps he got into!" After he said this,he frowned,looking rather disheartened.

"What's wrong?"

"He...he died," Bumblebee replied quietly.

"I'm so sorry,"

He hung his head and sighed. Megan needed a way to distract him from this thought.

"...You know what food is, right?" she asked.

Bumblebee gave her a peculiar look.

"You have no idea how many fast-food and grocery store runs I've made in the past four years! The question is, how do I not know what food is?"

Megan let out a laugh. "Well now you actually get to try some!" she said, pulling a few things from the fridge and pantry. Curiosity compelled him to move to see what she was doing. It wasn't until he saw the food that he realized what it meant to be "hungry". So many different and strange things, all of it making his mouth water. But where to start? He looked over the display and picked up something flat,brown and red that was hard and crumbly to the touch.

"Amber should be here at any moment, help yourself," Megan said, popping a small fruit into her mouth. He proceeded to do the same with the odd brown thing.

"What is this?" he asked, unsatisfied by the taste of it.

"That? Oh,that's bacon,"

"Bacon?"

"Yeah, bacon, it comes from a pig," she said between mouthfuls. Bumblebee paused.

"...As in the animal?"

Megan nodded.

He became paled very quickly and ran to the sink to spit out the dreadful stuff.

"Okay? Looks like I have a vegetarian in my midst," Megan mumbled.

"A what?" Bumblebee asked from the sink.

"A vegetarian, a person who doesn't eat animal products, or very little meat products," she removed the meat heavy products from the counter, sort of narrowing Bumblebee's options. He picked a red looking fruit that had a yellow inside. Taking a bite, his face lit up.

"That's good!" he exclaimed.

Megan grinned."Hang on,I think she's here," she paused on her way to the door."She's gonna be so ticked to find out you don't like meat!"

"You're kidding!" Amber exclaimed.

"I'm not!"

"He doesn't eat meat?" she shot Bumblebee a wide eyed look."You don't like meat?"

He shook his head, mouthful of apple.

"He took one bite of bacon and spit it back out," Megan explained.

"BACON! That's like,the gateway meat!"

"You have your opinions,I have mine," Bumblebee commented.

Amber turned to Megan,"He talks?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I can,and I can hear,too!" he said coolly. Amber glared at him,sightly annoyed by his response.

Megan looked between them.

"Stop it, the both of you," she said firmly."We don't need this right now,"

Amber averted her gazed from Bumblebee and he did the same from her.

"So,Bumblebee, what is an Autobot?" Megan asked."And what are they doing here on Earth?" She settled into a bar stool set across from where the Autobot-turned-human currently stood. He leaned on the counter, searching through his memories to where it all began.

The two girls listened intently as Bumblebee explained in great detail what had happened over the course of the past four years, the first battle on Earth, getting captured by the government,the battle against Megatron, traveling across the globe within an instant, another battle against a reconstructed Megatron and the even deadlier "Fallen", and the recent events in Chicago. However amazed she was by his stories, there was one thing Megan kept coming back to,_four years. _Four years ago, the Autobots came to Earth, four years ago, things started happening, four years ago, her father started going on more and more missions that required him to go away for long periods of time.

Could it be there was some kind of connection between the two?

Maybe, just maybe,this is the answer she was looking for.

"Wow," Amber said in amazement."And no one knows this has been going on?"

"Not until now,no," Bumblebee replied."Only those involved knew until recently,"

"Four years,you all were all to keep it a secret for four years? So no wonder no one understood why that Witwicky kid got the medal when he did,"

"Yeah...wait,how do you know about that?"

"My dad mentioned it once, he said,'He's not even military, what are they thinking, giving a civilian a Medal of Honor? He should have gotten the Congressional Gold Medal!' I don't know why it set him off so bad," Megan said.

"But, how did he know?"

Megan only shrugged.

"I was just telling Amber yesterday that I have no idea where he goes when he's gone,"

"What's his name?" Bumblebee asked.

"Wes, Wes Sullivan,"

"Wes Sullivan?" He racked his brain to see if he remembered the name or the face.

"Blonde? Grey eyes? Redish facial hair? Southern accent?"

"Hang on,hang on! I'm thinking,"Bumblebee said."Yyyyeah! I remember him, he likes to keep to himself a lot, focuses on his work," Bumblebee recalled.

"That sounds like him," Amber interjected. Megan nodded.

"That's him alright," she grumbled."So this whole time, he was part of some secret government organization, that's why he wouldn't tell me anything?"

"More than likely, yeah,"

She rolled her eyes,"Figures," she sighed, elbows resting on the counter and head on that. Her face contorted as Bumblebee and Amber both looked on, every now and then looking at one another. "You know what? I'm not okay with this!" she said decisively, smacking her hand down on the table. "When he comes home,I'm confronting him about it!"

Bumblebee's face lit up with a grin."I'll be right there with you," he said.

"You'd better be,you've got to do about as much explaining as he does!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3: Telling the Truth:**

Wes Sullivan never considered himself a great father, he was okay,but he was not the best. Sure, that's what every parent thinks, that they aren't a good parent, but Wes was never there for his daughter as much as he wanted to be.

"She's all grown up now, you gotta let it go," a friend once told him.

That might be true, but she still lived with him, she payed her fair share of the rent, she cleaned up after herself, but she was still there. She was always there, and it seemed like she always would be. He sighed and looked out the window of the car he was in, the sky giving way to an orange sunset. It's not that he minded her being there, but why? Why had she chosen to stick around? It's not like he was ever there.

But if she left, there would be no one.

He focused his attention on the road ahead, not even bothering to put his hands on the steering wheel, for the car's actual driver was quite capable of handling it himself. The car itself, in truth, was the one driving, Sideswipe had offered to give him a ride home after noticing Wes was a little too out of it to drive himself.

He tried to take his mind off of Megan by focusing on work related things, but to no avail, he always came back to Megan. He shook his head.

"Easy,Wes, she's in her twenties now, she can handle herself," he said under his breath. He rested his head against his elbow as he propped it up on the window sill. He decided it best to try and converse with Sideswipe.

"So, no sign of Bumblebee,huh?"

"Nope, no contact from him in the past two days," the Autobot replied.

"Geez, you think something happened to him?"

Sideswipe let out a groan,"Let's hope not, but for all we know, he could have gone the way of Ironhide-"

"Eh, let's not bring that up, we're lucky we got out with as many as we did,"

"True,"

They went back to the same silence as before.

"Wes?"

Having nearly fallen asleep, Wes answered groggily,"Hm?"

"Do you ever think of telling your daughter what you've been doing? I mean, many other families in N.E.S.T. Knew about the Autobots before it was brought to the world's attention, why are you still keeping it from her?"

Wes hesitated, not having expected this peculiar a question,

"I...you don't know her like I do," he said,"She would worry too much, I don't want to burden her with that sort of thing,"

"I would figure that telling her would make her less prone to worry, wouldn't it?"

Sideswipe's proposal caused Wes to rethink his earlier statement.

"I guess you're right, Sides," he said.

"_But I wonder how mad she'll be when I tell her," _he thought to himself.

Sideswipe turned with ease onto the Sullivan's drive only to cringe at the sound of the gravel below being kicked up onto his underbelly.

Wes slung his bag over his shoulder as he exited the car. He thanked the Autobot for the ride and watched him leave with a cloud of dust trailing him. The man fumbled with his keys while running his shoes over a bristle covered rug to remove whatever grime might be on them, then unlocked the door to hear the sound of familiar laughter and the sound of a voice saying,"No! You idiot! That goes over there!" to which someone replied with an "Ohhh..." and proceeded to complete the task correctly.

As soon as Wes had set his bag down,the laughter and chatter stopped, he looked up to find he was being stared at by not one,but three faces. He recognized two of the faces immediately, but the third he had never seen before. It caught him of guard to see that this third face was that of a man,Megan rarely had male friends over and would have bothered telling him if she had. He glared in her direction in time to see her glance back and forth between him and the stranger and look rather ashamed.

"Who is he?" Wes asked sternly. Megan opened her mouth to speak, then closed it and looked at the stranger who shrugged. She looked back at her father.

"He...Dad,he's not going to hurt anyone," she said.

"Damn right, he'd better not, who is he?" Wes sneered.

She looked up at him,concern on her face, for what reason, he didn't know, but he was growing impatient.

"Megan Lee-Ann, you answer me this instant!" he snapped harshly which caused Megan to flinch slightly.

Mind you,Wes would never cause his daughter any harm, he wasn't that kind of person, but having known him for many a year, Megan had come to expect certain things from certain tones of voice. It didn't help that when she was younger, Megan had been physically abused by her boyfriend,making Wes defensive around any guy who came around her.

Wes's impatience was growing, he clenched his teeth and balled a hand into a restrained fist. Megan finally spoke.

"H-how was your day at work?" she asked.

Wes raised an eyebrow.

"...How was my day at work? What kind of question...Megan!"

She looked at him with a face full of anger and betrayal,"I found out," she said through gritted teeth.

"You found out,found out what?" he asked in his confusion.

"I know what you've been doing," she said, storming over to him,"The Autobots, the Decepticons, the war? How you go off playing hero everyday? The reason you've been gone for weeks, sometimes months at a time?"

Wes was shocked,he had no idea how she knew, but he hung his head all the same. The angry bite of her words was unsettling. Megan scanned him with a pained expression.

"You always taught me that honesty is important," she said quietly,obviously hurt."I can't believe you didn't have the nerve to tell me yourself," she turned away from him, leaving him there,thinking about what he had done. He realized that Sideswipe had been right, he should have told Megan sooner.

"How did you find out?" he asked.

Megan stopped, looked at him, then looked at Amber who was standing next to the blonde stranger.

"You tell him," she said flatly.

Amber sighed and pointed at the person net to her.

"Wes, this is Bumblebee,I believe you two have met before," she said.

"Bumblebee?" the name fell out of Wes's mouth in awe as he looked the stranger over. Finally getting a good look at him, he noted the blonde hair, alarming blue eyes and his choice of clothing color-assuming the black and yellow jacket was his, not one of the lady's. He watched as he shifted slightly under Wes's stare.

"How long have you been here?" Wes asked.

"Two days,today and yesterday," the boy's hand went to his neck.

"How'd you end up here?"

"I got lost in the woods after a fight, got scarred pretty badly. Your daughter,Megan,she offered to try and patch me up so I could get back safely,but,as it turns out,getting blood on an Allspark shard can have some...strange side effects," he explained, looking up at Wes,then back down at the cards that were placed in front of him. Placing his hands on his hips, he sighed and studied the supposed "Bumblebee".

"Alright, not everyone knows about the Allspark, I'll bite, how do I know it's really you?" he asked.

Bumblebee found himself hesitating once again, trying to find the answer to a question. This was happening to him a lot, in the past,he could pass off a question because most believed he couldn't talk, so after a while, they just gave up on asking. But not now, Wes was waiting on a answer,and he wanted it soon. He caught some movement in the corner of his eye as Megan made her way over to the living room where she picked u the Allspark shard(carefully) and brought it over to her father.

"You might want to hide this in a better place," she said as she held the shard out to him,"It's gonna end up causing a lot of problems for a whole lot of people otherwise," she looked over her shoulder at Bumblebee.

"Amber and I,we saw what it did to him,and if it can do that,who knows what else it might do,"

Amber nodded as a response.

Wes looked down at the shard,turning it over in his hand. It was stained red in places,but other than that, the odd shaped,alien rock remained the same.

"Why is there blood on it?" he asked.

"I cut my hands trying to get the shard away from Bumblebee," Megan explained."he's got a pretty strong grip!"

Wes still stared at the shard, it would be the first time a piece of this all powerful alien object caused problems,but,could it really make an Autobot human? Maybe. Until he was proven otherwise, the answer would be "Yes,".

"So,Megan's blood coming in contact with the shard caused a reaction...making you human?" he pointed to Bumblebee.

He shrugged,"I guess so,"

Wes sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I can't believe this," he grumbled."And I'm guessing he's gonna be staying with us, isn't he?" he glared in Megan's direction.

"Where else has he got to go at this late hour?"

Her father let out a groan.

"Okay, he can stay," Bumblebee perked up a bit."But that's indefinitely. I'm not saying he can stick around here forever,"

Bumblebee shot a look in Megan's direction as if to ask if this was a good thing. She held up both hands with thumbs up, a light smile gracing her face.

Looking at the time,Wes yawned. He gathered up his things and...

"Wait, dad, one more thing," Megan said, stopping him before he could reach the stairs.

Frowning,he asked "What?" in an irritated manner. All he wanted to do was climb into bed and get a decent night's sleeps.

Megan looked at her companions,then at her father.

"We want in," she said."We want to join N.E.S.T."

Wes looked at her in alarm.

"What! You can't be serious!"

"I am! Amber and I want to know what the big deal is and Bumblebee doesn't want to miss out!"

Wes shook his head. He knew what being a part of N.E.S.T. Had done to him,he didn't want the same to happen to her,or Amber for that matter.

"Why not?" Megan asked.

Wes sighed."I've seen what the military can do to people,Meg," he said as calmly as he could."It changes people,it changed me;it's the reason your mother and I split up! I don't want to happen to you," he looked over at Amber."The same goes for you,"

Megan sighed as she watched her father walk past. She folded her arms and began pacing,staring down at her bare feet as they padded across the wood floor. Amber looked over at the cards in front of Bumblebee and instructed him to move one to a certain spot. Megan continued pacing as Amber showed Bumblebee how to properly finish a hand of solitaire. She stopped when an idea occurred to her.

"Give me a chance," she said,eyes locked on her father who was almost up the stairs. He turned around to look at her."I'm not going to let something like this change me, let me have a chance to prove that to you. And if it does change me? Let it be for the better,'

Wes let out a disgruntled groan."Why do you want to do this so badly?" he asked,coming back down the stairs.

She made a face and thought about it."because I want to do something important for once in my life, something different,and what's more different that the Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty? Besides, it be a good use of time, we seem to have a little too much of that on our hands,"

Amber nodded in agreement.

Wes rubbed him forehead and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Alright! I give up!" he declared."You want to do this? Don't say I didn't warn you, if you get hurt, it's on you,"

A smiled crept onto Megan's face as Wes disappeared once more up the stairs. She turned to Amber.

"Told you he'd crack," she said. Amber shrugged.

"I stand corrected,"

Megan settled into the bar stool across from where Bumblebee was. He looked at her with concern in his impossible blue eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Megan fiddled with a curl as she studied the cards.

"Positive," she said,finishing the hand and stacking the cards. Amber,a tad unhappy that Megan had finished the hand an not her, laid out a new hand for herself."You didn't think you were getting off that easily,did you?" she wagged a nagging finger at him."You haven't seen the last of me,Bumble-boy," her fiendish grin and stern eyes took him by surprise.

"...I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into..."

Later that evening,Bumblebee found himself sitting on the front porch of the Sullivan's home,staring out at the night sky. You could see many stars clearly from out her,so much more than in a big city like DC. He had to wonder if it was out there, his home world, Cybertron, but there was a vast distance between the two worlds,it would be impossible to know for sure. Leaning back and elbows resting on the step behind him, he began to think about what Sam might be doing at that same moment. He felt his heart sink, Sam, Carly, everyone else,they would all be worried about him. He hadn't been home in two days,Sam would be freaking out. That was a weird word to call it,"home", was it really right to call it that? His brow furrowed in confusion. That's a weird word, "home", where was his home? Was it with Sam? Was it with the Autobots? He always felt bad when he was away from Sam for long periods of time,but that was because they were best friends.

He looked around where he currently was,the nearby forest,the cool air, the gentle breeze,it made him smile.

"This is a nice place," he thought as he took a deep breath of the pine scented air. He allowed a small grin to come onto his face. The natural beauty of this world,that's what made it fascinating,and unique. And being out in nature was so much different than being in the city,he liked it. That's when a thought occurred to him. Maybe he could use this chance to take a break! He could just,let it all go for once,make his own decisions,be someone else for a little while.

He smiled."Yeah,that could work,just for a little while..."

There were footsteps behind him and he looked back to see Megan sit down on the step right above him.

"You alright?" she asked,fiddling with the short braid her hair had been thrown into. She had changed into a baggy sweat shirt and an old pair of jeans.

"I think so," he replied.

"And,you're okay with...this?" she gestured to his current form.

"Yyyyyeah,I'm getting used to it,but it gave me idea," he said,shifting so he could see her better.

He explained to her that he wanted to use this time as a chance to take a break from being "Bumblebee",just for a little while.

"I mean,we've all been working hard,why not take a break?"

"...So,you aren't going to tell anyone?

He shook his head. Megan sighed.

"Bee? Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Bumblebee shrugged.

"We're just going to have to wait and see..."


	4. Chapter 4

This story occurs after the events that happen in the recent film, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". All characters mentioned are either a property of Hasbro or of myself, I only claim the rights to those characters I have created.

**Part 4: Recruitment and it's Downfalls-**

The following morning, Megan,Amber and Bumblebee joined Wes, just before the crack of dawn, on the route to N.E.S.T.'s local headquarters. The building resembled a large hanger that had been modified to suit the needs of the Autobots and their human counterparts. On either end of it were large doors that opened when rolled on large wheels. Along the walls of the facility were stretches of walkways that jutted out into the middle of the building,lined with computers,other important equipment and railings,just for safety.

Megan looked around,trying to take in the immensity of it all.

"Wow," she beamed in amazement."This place is amazing!"

Bumblebee nodded approvingly,staring up at the large,all to familiar Autobot symbol on the far wall. Several candy colored motorcycles and sports cars sat along one side of the wall.

Autobots, just like Bumblebee.

Megan studied each one, wondering who they were specifically.

"Right," Wes said,clapping his hands together."This is it, N.E.S.T. HQ, let's get you-"

"Sullivan!" a sharp voice barked.

Wes whirled around to face a sour looking man with jet black hair that was curled tight against his head. He stormed towards the blonde man with large strides that appeared almost pompous to...well,anyone!

"You know the rules," he spoke with the accent of a New Yorker."No visitors!"

There was something about the man that set all three of the new arrivals on edge. Megan frowned at him, not enjoying the way he was speaking to her father. Amber raised an eyebrow at him, and Bumblebee's body tensed,fists clenched into two tight balls.

"Hang on Simmons,you've got it all wrong," Wes said with defensive hands. He waved a hand in the trio's direction."These three are new recruits, My daughter,Megan Sullivan,Amber Riley, and their friend..."

He paused. How could he have forgotten? Bumblebee had never bothered to come up with a good alias for himself,so the man would have to think on his feet.

"...This...this is...Brent...Dawson..." he said hesitantly. Bumblebee looked at him in surprised,he hadn't been the most supportive when it had come to his idea of "hiding in plain sight". All the same, he was rather thankful, Simmons was the last person he wanted to find out about his true identity.

Simmons was suspicious and stared intently at Bumblebee who glared back at the man with the same amount of intensity. The agent tucked his hands behind his back,one clasped in the other as he studied each one of them in turn. He murmured something under his breath about Megan and how she probably couldn't tell the difference between a hair dryer and a hand gun. Her mouth dropped open at the sound of this comment and her head jerked in the man's direction. He stood in front of Amber with his hand resting on his chin. He grumbled something rather harsh under his breath that caused Amber to lash out. Face both red and full of rage,the only thing stopping her was Bumblebee, who grabbed her wrist forcefully.

"Well,well,well," Simmons chuckled with a sneer."What have we here? Maybe one of you have some potential after all!"

Bumblebee shot him a glare, a snarl coming onto his face. He opened his mouth,ready to voice an opinion he had never been able to voice before.

"Now you wait just a god damn second," he snapped,taking a strong step towards Simmons."You have no right to go around judging anyone like that!" his voice grew louder all of a sudden.

A look of shock darted into Simmons's eyes,but only for a moment. He folded his arms and continued to stare at Bumblebee.

"Go on," he said coolly.

Bumblebee opened his mouth to speak,then closed it.

"I didn't think so," Simmons looked at Wes."I rest my case," he began to walk away

Bumblebee's eyes followed Simmons and proceeded to clear his throat. The man turned on his heels to face him once again. Bumblebee let out a sigh.

"I've only known you for five minutes,and I've already decided that I don't like you," he said sharply. Simmons raised an eyebrow but kept his lips pursed together."You've insulted my friends, and proved you're both a racist _and _a sexist bastard!"

The redness had not yet faded from Amber's face as she looked in Bumblebee's direction,as did Megan. There was silence.

"Those are some strong words," Simmons said,striding back over to where the trio stood. He looked the trio over once more."I'll see what you've got," he pointed a stern finger at Megan."You, girl-"

"It's Megan," she growled.

"...Megan,you're first,"

Megan swallowed and her eyes darted between her father and Simmons. Simmons waved her and the others a long and Wes let out a heavy sigh as they passed.

To Simmons's surprise, each one of the supposed "recruits" turned out to prove themselves very versed in one or more field of military knowledge. Megan,as it turned out, had a rather vast understanding of the history of weaponry and how to properly load,fire and clean a few sorts of guns.

"Blame my dad," she grinned."He taught me when I was younger,"

Amber,having taken many a year of Tae Kwon Do lessons,proved formidable when it came to hand to hand combat, even managing to flip Simmons onto his back which set the on looking Bumblebee and Megan into a fit of laughter that ceased with a glare from Simmons.

When it came to shooting,no one proved more impressive than Bumblebee who not only managed to catch Simmons's attention, but that of the woman in charge of the firing range as well.

Her name was "Elle", a young woman with straight brown hair that hung in a high ponytail while bangs hung across her forehead,pinned back by a dark blue clip that matched her eyes. Those same eyes lit up with a look of wonder and pride when she saw how good a shot Bumblebee was.

"Impressive!" Elle commented with a broad smile in the direction of the target that had been punctured multiple times by Bumblebee's skillful hand.

"Thanks," he said,reloading a hand gun with a grin on his face. He was exceptionally happy now that Simmons had left,he had given up on trying to find a way to make any of them break, even though they had all come close at one point or another,only to be calmed by the other two members of the group.

Elle's eyes darted to the door,then back at Bumblebee.

"You wanna see something?" she whispered to him.

"...Sure?"

She walked a few feet away, picked up a picture from some where and hung it up on the target before grabbing a pair of head phones,goggles and took a position at the firing line. Each shot hit it's mark perfectly and it was near impossible to see her reload,it was all one swift motion. When she had finished,she walked over,took down the photograph and handed it to Bumblebee who almost immediately burst into laughter. The photograph was of Simmons and Elle had managed to shoot a rather comical mustache onto his face with a series of well placed bullet holes. Megan,having heard the laughter,looked over curiously to see them both chatting and laughing away. For some reason,this exchange made caused her to feel a pang of discontent. She may have only known him for two short days, but there was something about Bumblebee that made her heart almost skip a beat every time he looked her way. She had decided to ignore it,figuring it would go away with time. Or, at least she hoped it would.

"...Can you believe that Simmons guy?" Amber hissed under her breath.

"Huh?" Megan said,coming back to reality.

"The nerve of that guy! Acting like he did," she muttered a foreign curse under her breath as she shook her head.

"Some people can be really ignorant," Megan said,turning the gun over in her hand as she leaned against a counter.

"Big time!" Amber agreed,rolling her eyes.

The sound of the door opening caused everyone to look in that direction to see a young man in a suit and tie peer into the room.

"Uh..." he sputtered as he blinked in confusion,not recognizing a majority of the people in the room.

Bumblebee remembered who he was instantly,it was Sam Witwicky, the first person he had befriended here on Earth,and was still friends with to this day. Only,Sam didn't recognize him,he thought he was still missing.

_I'm right here you idiot, right in front of you..._ The Autobot thought. Even so, he held his tongue.

Sam's eyes feel on Elle,the only person he knew and asked hastily,

"Have you seen Simmons?"

"You just missed him," she replied,pulling the eye gear off."Stormed out of here a few minutes ago,"

"Great,thanks," he said,ready to pull out of the room.

"That was rude," Amber voiced a loud. Sam paused,hand on the door.

"Sorry?"

"You just looked around a room and saw three people that you don't know and don't even bother asking who they are," she sneered."That's personable of you,"

"Amber,the man's busy,leave him alone!" Megan cut in.

"What? I'm just saying! You'd introduce yourself, right?"

Megan didn't respond to this. Amber looked at Sam and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well?"

He let out a sigh.

"Fine. I'm Sam Witwicky," he said halfheartedly."Who are you?"

"Amber Riley. This is Megan Sullivan and that's Brent Dawson," Amber said with a look of satisfaction.

Bumblebee shook Sam's hand with a confident smile."Pleasure to meet you," he said.

"Yeah,same to you," Sam said hesitantly."Nice to meet ALL of you now,good bye!" he had almost made his way entirely out the door when he over heard Bumblebee pipe up and say,

"So,Megan,your father was telling us about some...missing Autobot, any idea where we can find out more about that?"

Megan glared at him,"It's like you want him to find out!" she whispered under her breath. Bumblebee grinned. Sam came back into the room once more.

"How did you know about that?" he inquired.

"Like I said, Megan's father was telling us," Megan was starting to realize that he was baiting Sam, trying to get him to figure out what had become of his missing companion. Sam looked Megan over.

"It came up in conversation,that's all," Megan told him.

"Well it's none of your business, if anyone's going to find him,it's going to be me,"

Megan couldn't suppress a laugh to which Sam took slight offense.

"...Sorry,that was rude of me,but you can't expect to find him on your own,do you? I mean,really?" she asked.

Sam hung his head.

"I thought we would have heard something by now..." he muttered.

Bumblebee frowned and felt a knot form in his throat.

"He'll turn up eventually,Sam," Elle chimed in."I can't imagine he's gotten far."

_I'll say..._ Bumblebee thought to himself.

"How about this,we'll help you look for him,how does that sound?" Megan offered.

The puzzled look on Sam's face suggested that he was wary of accepting this proposal.

"...Well,I don't know about those two, but I sure will,"

"Oh,we'll help!" Amber said with a broad nod. Bumblebee gave a sharp one as well,trying his best to keep silent.

"Really? Why would you do that?" Sam asked.

"I know what it's like," Bumblebee spoke up."Loosing a close friend? The only difference here is,you can get yours back and I can't,"

Sam stared at him in slight disbelief.

"I'm sorry..."

Bumblebee held up a hand.

"Save your sentiments," he said firmly.

He shut up and turned to Megan.

"Thank you," he said,"that's be a big help,"

"Certainly! What's your friend look like?"

Sam proceeded to give an accurate description of what the Autobot looked like(or used to look like,rather) all the while, no one seemed to notice how Elle's eyes kept darting towards Bumblebee as he continued.

"We'll be sure to keep an eye out for him," Megan said with a finally nod.

Sam nodded as well and left. Once he was gone,there was a momentary silence.

"We should probably get going as well..." Bumblebee said as he walk towards the door and held it open for the ladies.

"Oh,one more thing before you go," Elle said.

Bumblebee looked over his shoulder to see a rather stern expression on the woman's face.

"I don't know how long you plan on keeping this little masquerade up, but,don't you think it's a little unfair? It's quite the disguise after all,"

He stared at her in shock for a moment.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about," he managed to say before slamming the door behind him. Elle let out a sigh and shook her head.


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5: Not the Only One-**

"What was that all about?" Bumblebee murmured as he went to catch up with Amber and Megan wow were flagging him down from across the way.

His mind swarmed with thoughts as Megan babbled on to him about some idea Amber had had.

Who was that woman? How did she know who he was? How on Earth did she find out? Out of the corner of his eye,he caught sight of her leaving the firing range. She happened to catch his gaze then left in the opposite direction, ponytail bobbing back and forth as she went. He watched her go and heard a sharp "SNAP!" in his ear that caused him to jump back about a foot.

"...You weren't even listening to me!" Megan exclaimed. Bumblebee felt his face go red hot.

"I-I...I didn't mean to, honest!" he sputtered. Megan laughed at how quickly his face reddened. He waited until he felt normal again to speak."What were you talking about?

Megan returned to a calm demeanor and starting explaining Amber's idea over again.

Well out of ear shot of the trio, Elle stopped in her tracks and sighed as she leaned against the side of the building. She looked back at them, staring at the male blonde,his hands shoved casually into his pockets as he listened to the other two girls go on about something.

_It has to be him,_ she thought. _Who else could he be?_ She bit her lip as she mulled over her thoughts.

Looking around,it dawned on her,as it had many a time before, how normal she looked to everyone else, even though she knew she was not _normal. _Looking down at her hands reminded her of what she had been, something made of steel and wires,not flesh and blood. Processors replaced brains, optics were what substituted for eyes, and everything was so much bigger. Well, here on Earth anyways. Yes, at one point, she had been one of them,one of the Autobots, and a damn good one at that. She had no trouble handling a gun and could shoot a fair sized target from a good ways off. Luckily,this same skill easily translated to the form she currently found herself in, the result of a freak accident during a lightning storm. She shuddered,

_Remind me to never stand alone in an open field again!_

"Hey,'lita," a voice said from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find a man standing close by her, his face riddled with scars that had healed over in odd ways. He had black hair that grayed as it curled around his face and sprung up in tufts here and there. Sporting and old leather jacket, paired with worn,black work boots, faded jeans and a gray tee shirt that had seen better days,he was ready to work.

Elle grinned at him,he was the only person who knew about her predicament, which also made him the only person to still call her by her real name. Her real name was "Elita", the name given to her back on Cybertron.

" The hell have you been doing?" she asked her companion as she looked him over.

"Nothing!" he exclaimed in frustration. Rough hands ran through his dark locks and he let out a heavy groan."I mean,I can't go around acting like I know everything there is to know about the weapons the Autobots use!"

Elita watched him slump to the floor and did the same right beside him. She looked over at him sympathetically. "Tough, isn't it?" she commented conversationally. He nodded somberly. "I know how you feel..." she sighed,hugging her arms around her chest. They fell silent for some time,neither one sure of where to take the conversation next.

Elita glanced over at her friend so as to look him over once more. She could remember what he had,too,been like when he was an Autobot. However intimidating the old weapon's specialist might have been,nor one to be messed with in battle, he was a big softy way deep down. I guess that's why they called him Iron_hide_, because no matter how tough the exterior is, it doesn't show what's beneath.

"You never told me..." she started in a hesitant manner."How it happened,you know, how you became human?"

Ironhide said nothing,but his expression changed to one of discontent as he recalled that day.

"I can safely say that was the worst day ever,worst few days as a matter-of-fact," he began with a sigh. His hand was covering his eyes and she began regretting asking the question in the first place. "You remember me telling you what happened with Sentinel, right?" he said with his teeth barred in anger.

Elita nodded.

"Well, Optimus had me guarding the old bastard when he decides to turn on the Autobots! And the first thing he does?"

It took her a moment to realize that this was a legitimate question,not a rhetorical one.

"...Uh...he shot you in the back...?"

"He shot me in the back! And let me tell you, you do not want to be on the receiving end of the blast from a cosmic rust cannon," Ironhide said with a finger pointed in Elita's direction.

"So then how are you alive?" she asked.

"I...I honestly don't know, I really should be dead," he sighed heavily."All I know is, the next moment I was being woken up but someone telling me to get my lazy ass off the street because the area was strictly prohibited. Before I could even get a word out,I was being thrown off the property of one of the N.E.S.T. Headquarters,"

Elita grinned."And yet you still managed to sneak right back in, didn't you?"

He looked proud of himself as he gave an affirmative nod.

"Yes,yes I did!" he beamed.

Elita let herself laugh."Sneaky! Very sneaky!" she punched his arm playfully."When exactly did you figure out you weren't yourself?"

"Only moments later, there was a river near by and...well,I couldn't transform, that was a big clue..." he bit into his tongue with his top row of teeth."I saw my reflection in the water and...you get the idea,kinda freaked out!"

"You're not alone there," she mumbled under her breath.

They returned to silence which was only broken now and again by a sigh or a shift in movement. Elita fell into watching the comings and goings of the others in the building, not much was going on today, not much was going on anymore. The Autobots were pretty much there to help solve human conflicts, which isn't as bad as fighting Decepticons, but at least it gives you something to do. She smirked as she thought about what other might say if they knew that the Autobots were now helping organics and that some of them WERE organics! Organics hadn't been very popular back on Cybertron, they were called "impure" and "vulgar". Elita saw nothing wrong with them, she was starting to doubt any nay sayers had ever met an organic to begin with! Of course, now they kind of had to put up with the, they were stuck on an organic planet after all, surely Optimus...

...Optimus...

The name could barely cross her mind without making her heart skip a beat. She hated that feeling, that feeling of longing that can never be satisfied. He probably had forgotten about her, or thought her dead. And it was better that way, she didn't want him worry about her, she could take care of herself, couldn't she? Of course she could, she was a full grown woman after all, how hard could it be.

She groaned and buried her face in her arms so no one could see how red her face had gotten, even if Ironhide was the only one who would notice. Instead of focusing on what was on her mind, she turned to the conversations going on around her. Most were pretty boring and average, just about petty human problems,but one did manage to catch her attention well enough, an exchange between William Lennox and Sam Witwicky.

"...Anything?" Sam asked.

Elita popped her head up slightly.

Lennox shook his head."Nothing," he replied.

Sam looked crestfallen.

The elder man let out a sigh."Look,Sam, I know you're worried,but,I'm sure he's fine,he'll turn up soon enough,"

"Maybe you're right," Sam said with fists clenched tight."But, what if he doesn't? What if he never..."

"Sam! Bumblebee's you're best friend,why would he do something like that?"

Sam didn't reply, he just stared downward. Lennox placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I want you to go home and take your mind off of this for a while, alright? I'll let you know if we find out anything,"

After a moment or two, Sam nodded then left,not noticing two pairs of eyes following him as he went. Once Sam was gone, Ironhide turned to Elita and said,

"So, where do you think he is?"

"Huh?"

"Where do you think Bumblebee disappeared to?" Ironhide repeated.

"Oh! Him! Did you see that three some come in this morning? The two girls and the guy?"

"With Wes? What about them?'

"Well I think that the boy's Bumblebee,"

Ironhide was dumbstruck. This was not the answer he was expecting. He laughed.

"That's crazy! Like he would ever do something like that!"

"Like either of us MEANT to do it,"

"...Touche...What makes you think it's him?"

"He's pretty good with a gun, he stuck up for the other girls when Simmons was bashing them, oh, and he hates Simmons,SO hates Simmons,"

"Everyone hates Simmons!" Ironhide exclaimed.

"Ironhide, come on! You just don't want to admit that I'm right!" Elita said as she jumped onto her feet.

Ironhide laughed and got up as well."You want to bet?"

Elita, evening knowing that he was asking this question in a joking manner, smiled slyly and folded her arms across her chest.

"Yes, yes I do," she said."Twenty bucks and dinner to the winner, sound fair?"

"You've got yourself a deal!"

The pair shook on it,then each went their separate ways in satisfaction at what they had accomplished.

Back at the Sullivan's home, Megan confronts Bumblebee about something that's been bugging her all morning.

"Why didn't you tell Sam?" she asks as she enters the garage where she finds Bumblebee leaning against an older version of the Chevrolet Camaro that had been Bumblebee's vehicle mode as a robot. Wes loves older cars, and purchased the car before knowing the Autobots, he's been keeping it in good condition ever since. Bumblebee didn't respond, he didn't want to.

"Why didn't you tell Sam?" Megan asked in a harsher tone.

He tried not to pay attention, acting like he hadn't even noticed she was there.

"You know he's worried about you," she said, noticing what he was doing."I mean, I know you said you didn't want to tell anyone, I get that you 'wanted a break', but you should have told him! I figured you would have at least told..."

"Megan!" Bumblebee snapped with irritation. She looked at him with surprise. His hands rested on the Camaro's hood and he stared at her intently."Stop! I know what I'm doing! I've got it under control!"

"I find that hard to believe," she replied."Did you think that the other day when you were lost in the woods the other day? Hm? What was you plan then? If Amber and I hadn't found you, you'd probably be collapsed in a pile of scrape metal!"

He was about to storm off but Megan got between him and the door before he could.

"We promised Sam we'd help him look for you, here you are!" he pushed past her."It's on your head to tell him," she called after him."Not mine!"

He just walked away shaking his head.

Megan leaned against the wall,handing covering her face in distress she sunk to the floor.

"Why does he have to be so stubborn?"


	6. Chapter 6

This story occurs after the events that happen in the recent film, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". All characters mentioned are either a property of Hasbro or of myself, I only claim the rights to those characters I have created.

**Part 6: What Children Teach Us-**

A month passes, the disappearance of Bumblebee still baffles most of the N.E.S.T. Team, not to mention the now very frustrated Sam Witwicky.

The twenty something has to find some way to take out his frustrations, so he ends up taking it out on Megan, who promised to help him look for Bumblebee when he first went missing. This in turn, causes Megan to lash out at Bumblebee who has been living with her and her father through all of this.

"I'll tell him when I'm ready," he kept telling her when ever she brought it up, often followed by him deserting whatever activity he was currently doing in order to keep her from pestering him.

But everyone reaches a breaking point, and Megan was getting closer to her's.

"Bee, PLEASE! Tell him already!" she pleaded with him one day at work."This is seriously getting old! I'm getting all this flack from Sam because you're still 'missing'!"

Bumblebee only rolled his eyes, he was getting sick of this. He flipped through some papers on a clipboard as he tried to ignore Megan's nagging tone.

"...If not for him, what about the other? Optimus, Sideswipe...do it for your friends! I have to wonder..."

"Why do you even care?" Bumblebee asked, trying to get her to shut up.

The glare of his blue eyes got her to stop. Her face got hot quickly, making the whole situation awkward. She folded her arms across her chest and refused to look at him.

"...Maybe I shouldn't care," she muttered."I just do."

Bumblebee was a little confused by her reaction, but just went back to his papers.

"Can we just drop it? Please?" he asked calmly."It's not something I like to talk about, especially here."

Megan nodded, the redness fading from her face.

"Did inventory get done?"

"Yeah, I got done with it this morning, did you turn in that report about that last mission?"

"Yeah..."

After that exchange, there was no conversation, only the noises of two people going about their business.

Since it was silent, they both jumped at the sound of someone knocking on the frame of the door. It was Amber.

"Lennox's got something for you and me to do, Meg," she said to the blonde.

"Alright, what is it?"

"We need to keep an eye on Annabelle for a few hours," Amber replied.

Megan nodded as she followed Amber out of the supply room, her mind not currently on the task they had been given, but on Bumblebee, and the funny, fuzzy feeling she kept getting around him. It was like a bunch of butterflies had formed in her stomach, causing her to act weird around him. She would often dismiss these feelings as a passing phase, nothing more, but they were still there...

"You know, I feel bad for the Lennox family," Amber said.

"Why?" Megan asked.

"You remember what...Bumblebee..." she said the Autobot's name quietly."Told us about what happened to him? With that cannon blast?" she waved to a scar faced man with black and gray hair named Ian-who was very handy with weapons.

"Of course, how could I forget, what an awful way to go!"

"I know right? Well, apparently, Lennox would have had Ironhide or even Bumblebee watching Annabelle, but neither of them are...technically here, so he wants us to do it,

"Thing is, he actually has to pay us!" Megan laughed.

Amber joined her.

They collected Annabelle Lennox from her father and headed into town.

"So,Annabelle," Megan said to the youngster."You're in Kindergarten, right?"

"Yeah..." Annabelle said hesitantly, not sure of either of the two women, more comfortable around the large robots she had come to know than these two. They had much more interesting things to talk about, those robots, but she hadn't seen them in a while. She often wondered what had become of her friends, but no one would ever tell her.

"You liking it okay?"

"...I guess so..."

"What do you like to do there?"

"I..." being only about five years old, Annabelle's attention was easily captured. Seeing someone she recognized was no exception.

"Sam!" she squealed, running up to him and attaching herself to his legs.

"Geez!You're a fast one aren't you?" Sam joked.

He looked up to Amber and Megan and pointed to Annabelle.

"This yours?" he asked.

Amber nodded.

"Lennox has us watching her for a little while," she told him as Annabelle was returned to them.

"Ah, yeah, it's been kinda tough ever since..."

Megan cleared her throat and her eyes darted between Sam and Annabelle, then back again.

"...never mind, forget I said anything..."

Annabelle frowned,that was the closest she had gotten to the answer she was looking for!

"What are you doing here, Sam?" Amber asked, taking a hold of Annabelle's hand.

"Oh, just...wandering, looking for someone," he proceeded to glare at Megan.

"Oh! So it's my fault he's still missing?" she snapped.

"He's not here,is he?"

"But how is that my fault? I barely even know what he looks like! Do you know how many yellow and black Camaros are in this area!"

"...Guys! Calm down!" Amber interjected. But it was too late, they were going at it.

Annabelle lost interest in the argument, and since no one was paying her any attention, she wandered off.

"...You know! If you were really his friend, you would've found him by now!"

"I've been busy! That's why you're helping me!"

"So I'm just your lackey then! I am no one's lackey, you hear me!" she got a sudden look of horror on her face.

"ANNABELLE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" she shouted when she saw the girl in the middle of the street.

Megan desperately tried to get Annabelle to come back over to their side of the street but she refused on the grounds that she be told what's happened to Ironhide and Bumblebee.

Megan, Amber and Sam look at each other, not sure of what to do,they'd been given strict orders by Lennox not to tell Annabelle what's happened.

"She could get hit out there!" Amber said.

"But Lennox said..." Sam started.

"Who cares what Lennox said! This is his kid we're talking about!" Megan pointed out.

Sam let out a sigh."Alright, we'll tell you," he said reluctantly. Annabelle's face lit up and she took a few steps towards them.

But then, out of the corner of her eye, Megan spots something coming toward where Annabelle was. It was a large semi-truck.

"Annabelle! RUN!" she shouted frantically. Annabelle froze upon seeing the large truck headed straight for her.

"Not good! This is soooo not good!" Megan muttered, pulling her hair.

"Well someone's got to get her!" Amber said.

"That's suicide!" Sam declared.

"If she gets killed, it's on OUR heads!"

Annabelle wasn't sure of what to do, the truck was coming to quickly for her to make up her mind, and if the driver when trying to slow down, he wouldn't be able to stop in time. She started crying.

Just then,as the truck was nearly on top of her, a figured darted-as if from no where- to her rescue, snatching her up and tumbling across the rest of the street to safety. The threesome breathed as sigh of relief and rushed over to see who it was that had managed to save Annabelle's life. The truck that had almost taken Annabelle's life came to a halt several feet away and transformed into the robotic form of the Autobot leader, Optimus.

"Oh my god! Thank you SO much!" Megan babbled to the person."Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think," the man grunted.

"You're pretty quick on your feet, Ian! I've never seen anyone move that fast!" Amber commented.

"Annabelle, say 'thank you' to Mr. Ian, will you?"

Annabelle was attached to the poor man's jacket, clinging tightly to the fabric, she was very much shaken by the whole ordeal. But who had saved her? Who was "Mr. Ian"?

"T-thank you..." she said, still slightly teary.

"Not a problem," the man said, his voice rough but kind."You were in a tight spot there!"

She looked at his face with curiosity, the scars made her flinch a little, he had so many of them. His hair looked silly to her, the black and gray curls that came right up onto his face reminded her of a big sheep dog she had seen once in a picture book. Something seemed familiar about him, where had she seen him before?

And then see realized;

It was the eyes! The eyes felt so familiar to her! They reminded her of...

"Ironhide!" she shouted the name out loud, causing everyone around her to look very confused.

"Annabelle?" Sam asked.

She pointed a finger at the man who had rescued her.

"He's Ironhide!"

Everyone was stunned by this revelation, especially since it was coming from a very young child!

"Um? Annabelle?" Sam said cautiously."...Ironhide...h-he died..."

"...But..." Annabelle was confused, she was positive this man was Ironhide!

She looked at Optimus, hoping he would provide some sort of answer to the problem.

He was studying the man with a careful eye.

Everyone was looking at Optimus expectantly, wondering what his verdict was.

"Annabelle knew Ironhide just as well as any of us," Optimus spoke."You may want to consider that she may be right, Sam."

Sam was still unsure, Ironhide had been killed, he watched it happen! He looked at Ian...or...Ironhide...who ever the man was sceptically,.

"I...I'm still not sure," he said.

Megan sighed and rubbed her head.

"Maybe you can clear this up for us, are you or are you not Ironhide?" she asked.

He looked at all the expectant faces around him and took a deep breath.

"Well...The last time I check I was...so I'm pretty sure I still am..." he admitted.

Megan put out a hand to the man and turned to the others as if to say,"See?"

"That's your proof?" Amber said."Just him saying,'Yes, I am Ironhide'?"

"You got any better ideas? I believe him."

"...Why? You've never met him before," Sam pointed out.

Megan looked at Ironhide and Annabelle,then back at the two skeptics.

"Optimus believes him, and I trust Annabelle's intuition...sooo...that's why."

Of course, there was another reason, but she wasn't about to share that right now, it wasn't her business to share.

Amber shrugged and Sam only shook his head.

"I rest my case."

"Megan, I want you and your father to keep an eye on Ironhide for a while until we can sort this out," Optimus requested.

Megan nodded.

"Yes sir," she said."Annabelle? Can you go with Sam and tell your dad we ran into some...trouble?"

"Yeah..." She threw her arms around Ironhide which surprised him.

"Bye bye, 'Hide..." she said before leaving with Sam,

Ironhide waved after them and then sighed with a grin.

"You know? She was the only one to figure that out..."

"You do a good job of hiding it," Megan said."Come on..."

Megan and Amber brought Ironhide back to the Sullivan's home and started questioning him.

"How do we know you're really Ironhide?" Amber asked as she stared at him from across the kitchen island.

Megan was busy putting together some food.

"You eat meat, right?" she asked.

"Course I do! Who doesn't?"

"A friend of ours," Megan laughed.

"A friend of yours?"

"Yeah, his name's Bu-Brent," Megan nearly slipped up.

Ironhide raised an eyebrow as she placed a plate of food in front of him.

"He should show up at some point," she continued, "he'd like to meet you,I'm sure of it."

"I'd be interested in meeting him as well!" said Ironhide who recalled the bet he had made earlier with Elita.

He still thought he was right, and he was so looking forward to proving her wrong!

"How long have you been human, 'Hide?" Megan asked.

"A while..."

"How long is a while?"

Ironhide chuckled.

"Since the 'incident'," he said."You hear about it?"

"Yeah, we heard about it," Megan watched him shovel food into his mouth.

"Someone's hungry." she thought to herself.

"That's a pretty long time to be human, why didn't you tell anyone?" Amber asked.

"I was supposed to be dead, I didn't want to have to explain myself to everyone, you know, have them look into the whole ordeal..." he grumbled between mouthfuls.

"Besides," he said with another bite."I like keeping to myself, I'm that kinda guy."

Megan snorted.

"Something funny?" the man growled.

"It's nothing,I've just...heard that some where before, that's all..."

"Oh yeah? Where?" he asked, leaning on the counter like it was a bar.

As if in answer, the door opened and in entered Bumblebee. He looked tired, sweaty from the day's work.

"Oh, hey Meg..." Bumblebee said, then noticing Ironhide. He pointed at him."...Who?"

"Brent, this is Ironhide, he's going to be staying with us for a little while," Megan told him.

Bumblebee looked a little surprised by this news.

"Oh..."

"Yeah," Megan was enjoying this a more than she should, it was a form of pay back that she very much savored.

Ironhide studied the boy wondering what the hell made Elita think he could possibly be Bumblebee.

"So...Why's he here?" Bumblebee asked,pointing to Ironhide.

"Optimus's orders," Amber told him.

"Well, how do you know he's not lying?"

Megan gave him a surprised look.

"Now why on Earth would someone go through the trouble of concealing their identity like that?"

Bumblebee winced, seeing the point she was trying to make.

"I'm just saying, you've never met Ironhide before, why should you believe him?"

"Because I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, 'Brent'.," She used air quotes when saying his name.

Ironhide raised an eyebrow. What was with these two? Bickering like they were,it was like watching a married couple! And what was with the air quotes.

A groan caught his attention.

"It's been like this all month," Amber said.

"What do you mean?" Ironhide asked.

"They fight like this a lot, always over the simple stuff," a grin came onto her face."You know what I think? I think it's because they don't want to admit that they like each other."

"Whoa! Easy now! How long have you two known him?"

"A month."

"...Really?"

Amber nodded.

"Geez, and they fight like that?" He questioned.

She could only shrug.

"Brent's been living with the Sullivan's this whole time,so, he's spent a lot of time around Megan..."

"Oh, well-wait, how'd y'all meet?"

Amber stopped, a look of confusion come over her face.

"Well, you see, Brent...he was...hurt, badly and...uh...geez..."

"What's wrong?"

"Thing is, Brent's not like other guys, I don't think he'd want me sharing it."

"Oh,come on, who am I going to tell?"

"It's not just that, it's who he is that makes it an even bigger problem..." Her hand went to her neck apprehensively.

"Do I know him?" Ironhide asked.

"N-Yeah, yeah, you do..."

Ironhide had a sinking suspicion he had just lost the bet. He leaned across the table in order to whisper something to Amber.

"...He's not...Bumblebee, is he?"

Amber drew back in shock.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked quietly.

"N-no, it's just...a friend of mine and I, we made a bet on whether or not it was him-"

Amber let out a very loud laugh that caught Megan and Bumblebee's attentions.

"What's gotten into you?" the concerned Bumblebee asked.

"G-get this!" she said, still laughing. She pointed to Ironhide.

"He made a bet with someone...and it was about you!"

"What? What kind of bet?" He panicked, eyes darting to Ironhide.

"He said it was because they were wondering if you were Bumblebee or not!"

Bumblebee was stunned to silence at the shear impossibility of the idea.

A look of pure satisfaction came onto Megan's face.

"HAH!" She exclaimed, pointing a finger at the still-recovering-from-shock Bumblebee."Karma! Karma!"

"...The heck is karma?" Bumblebee asked.

"What goes around, comes around, Bee-boy!" Megan said, folding her arms across her chest with a smug look on her face."Who'd you make thee bet with?"

"Do you know the woman who works in the shooting range?"

"The one who hates Simmons with a passion? Yeah, we know her-she's the one you made the bet with?" Megan asked with surprise.

Ironhide nodded.

"Yeah, she's in the same boat as Bumblebee and me-"

"Wait, she's one of us?" Bumblebee interjected."Who is she?"

"She's Elita," Ironhide told him.

"Elita?" he yelped."How the hell did I not see that sooner!"

Ironhide laughed."Oh, boy, now I see what she meant! Which reminds me, I owe her twenty bucks..."

Megan turned to Bumblebee as Ironhide drew a twenty from his wallet.

"See? Was that so hard?" she said.

"No, but, this is different, Ironhide gets it."

"And Sam won't?"

"You don't know him like I do."

Megan sighed."No, no I don't, but you still need to tell him!"

"I'm not ready to tell him yet..."

"Sam doesn't know?" the voice of Ironhide spoke up.

"Uh, no...no he doesn't..."

Ironhide frown at Bumblebee.

"That's not like you,Bee."

"I-I know, it's just..."

"Just what? Are you afraid of what Sam's going to say?"

"Yes! Exactly!" Bumblebee said.

"Bee, You're an Autobot! You've fought some of the deadliest creatures in the universe and lived, I think you can handle telling your best friend who the hell you are!" Ironhide snapped sternly.

Megan nodded in agreement.

"That is exactly what I've been telling him! But has he listened? Noooo!"

"Well listen to me, boy, and listen well; You're telling Sam what's happened to you, whether you like it or not. He needs to know your safe," Ironhide instructed.

Bumblebee let out a heavy sigh. He did not like where this was going, but they were right, weren't they? Sam should know the truth.

"Alright!" he declared."I'll tell him! You happy?"

Megan smiled.

"Very."

Bumblebee held up a finger."But..."

Megan groaned.

"What now!"

"Can I tell him tomorrow?"

Megan laughed and shook her head.


	7. Chapter 7

This story occurs after the events that happen in the recent film, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon". All characters mentioned are either a property of Hasbro or of myself, I only claim the rights to those characters I have created.

**Part 7: When the Time is Right-**

Bumblebee nervously cleaned his gun the following day at N.E.S.T. HQ, the minutes seemed to pass like hours to him.

Would Sam even show up?

He looked out at the blue morning sky,there wasn't a cloud to be had. He shook his head and chuckled quietly to himself. It certainly didn't feel like a blue sky kind of day, but maybe that was just him, maybe other people where happy...

He heard the squeal of a young child that caught his attention.

It was Annabelle,she was playing with Ironhide while her father looked on. She looked happy and so did he, and Lennox hadn't looked very happy lately, ever since Ironhide's alleged death.

Maybe the sky was blue for them, the people who deserved to be happy.

He let out a sigh and began fiddling with the dog tag around his neck.

"Come on Sam, where the hell are you?" he wondered.

He soon returned to cleaning his weapon-which was already spotless-having nothing better to do until Sam showed up. He heard footsteps but didn't bother looking up.

"H-hey," It was Megan.

"Hey..." he replied quietly, still not looking up.

It was strange, this past week it was like something had changed between Megan and him, like there was something driving a wedge between them. Things had been okay those first few weeks, when she was helping him learn how to be human.

It was fun, being around her, she was cheerful, happy and laughed at all the little troubles he would have.

What happened to that? That was nice, it made him feel happy too. Had he taken this too far? Gotten a little too involved with her? He hadn't done anything wrong, had he?

No.

He felt flustered, a strange feeling come over him that made his heart beat a little faster and his face go red. This seemed to happen a lot when he thought about Megan like this, how he wanted to see her happy, he wanted to make her happy.

Was this normal?

Megan voice cut through his train of thought.

"You alright, Bee?" she asked.

He threw the rag he was cleaning the gun with down on the floor and holstered his gun.

"No, no I am not okay!" he grumbled."I had my reasons for not telling him, Megan, and I'm still not happy that I have to."

Megan sighed."It's for your own good, Bee, as well as Sam's, and mine! I don't think you realize how many people you've affected by doing this!"

Bumblebee clenched his hands into fists in aggravation.

This was a bad idea, he could have made it on his own that night, if he could go back and change all of this...

"Then you wouldn't have met Megan, or Amber, you would know any of the things you know now."

His heart skipped a beat. It was true! He never would have known what it was like to be human, to have this kind of freedom, to explore the world around him even more.

"Why didn't you tell him?" he heard Amber ask.

Megan flipped her gaze back onto him, her pink lips pressed together in an almost pout like fashion.

God! Why did she have to be so damn cute?

Bumblebee opened his mouth with hesitation."I...I just...I wanted a break," he said.

"You told me that before,but I still don't understand," Megan said."You could have taken a break and still let Sam know you were okay."

"I know! I know I could have...!"

"You SHOULD have!" Amber interjected.

"...I just wasn't thinking, alright?"

Megan let out a loud "Hah!"

"I'll say!" she placed her hands on her hips.

Bumblebee let out a sigh."I wanted freedom for once..." he said in a quiet voice."I didn't want to worry about protecting Sam twenty four hours a day, I didn't want to be stuck in one place for an insane amount of time! I never really got to experience Earth cultures like you humans do. Every time I learned something about how your world works, I savored it, and seeing as I'm stuck here I might as well take every chance I get!"

Megan was a little shocked! This had to be the most truthful statement to come out of the Autobot's mouth in the short time that she had known him. Adventure, excitement...everyone wants a chance to experience that, a little bit of romance never hurt either,but surely he wasn't thinking about that.

She grinned.

"I get it," she said, placing a hand on the shoulder nearest her."Take in all the world has to offer, travel across the globe! Do it all while you still can! We've all been there."

She looked to Amber who nodded, knowing the feeling all to well.

"So, you get it?" Bumblebee asked, a little confused because he hadn't put it in the clearest of terms...words weren't his strong suit...

Megan nodded.

"But, I gotta say, I think you're looking at this in the wrong way!"

"How?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you're an Autobot, correct?"

"...Megan, where are you going with this?"

She held up a finger to silence him.

"The answer is yes, you are an Autobot. You're name is Bumblebee for Christ's sake! What better way to see the world than by being an Autobot! You've probably been to more places than me and Amber combined! Russia? Egypt? China! Hell! We could barely convince our parents to let us go to England after we graduated!"

There was a flicker of fire in her eyes. There. That was one of the things liked most about her, how passionate she could get about things like this. He grinned at her.

"So I really don't see why you think being human is any better than being an Autobot, seems like a pretty sweet set up to me!" She got a thoughtful look on her face."Mind you, I wouldn't necessarily want to be an Autobot myself."

"Neither would I! I enjoy being human, thank you very much!" Amber announced, causing the other two to laugh.

"Freedom then, that's what turned me on to being human," Bumblebee proposed.

"What freedoms do you have now that you didn't have when you were an Autobot?" Amber asked."You could have just asked for the time off."

"You seem to be forgetting one little insignificant little detail," replied Bumblebee as he revealed the scar on his neck."I couldn't exactly talk."

"Well, Sam would've understood, it seemed like the two of you were pretty close," Megan pointed out.

Bumblebee sighed."I still don't think he would have understood..." he rubbed at the scarred area on his neck."He is going to be so mad when he finds out..."

"Course he is ya goof!" Megan said, smack Bumblebee in the stomach."Which is why you shouldn't have waited so long!"

Little did this trio of friends know, but their conversation had reached the ear of none other than Sam Witiwcky himself.

At first, he didn't know what to think, maybe he had just misheard something,maybe his brain was playing tricks on him. but as the they continued to talk, it became more and more apparent that "Brent" had been lying to him.

So he had been keeping his identity a secret from him this whole time! And here he had thought Bumblebee was his friend! Did he really not trust him? Did he really think it a hassle to have to keep an eye on him? The young man bit his tongue, trying to hold back his anger.

"...All I wanted was a little break, really! I was going to tell him!"

A break! Okay, that was the last straw or Sam!

"Is this some sort of joke?" Sam snapped, now in full view of the trio.

They all jumped, but none of them as much as Bumblebee who nearly jumped out of his skin upon seeing Sam. His bright blue eyes were wide in fright as if he had seen a ghost, his slightly spiked hair seemed to stand a little more on and.

"S-Sam!" he sputtered."H-how long have you been standing there!

He could see-and almost feel- the fury in Sam's eyes. Bumblebee knew this was a bad idea!

"Long enough to know my best friend doesn't trust me!" Sam snarled."How could you? First you run off and now you're off gallivanting as a human! Did you think you could just...desert everyone? That they would just forget you were even here?"

Bumblebee managed to swallow the knot in his throat before saying.

"I came back, I didn't go any where..."

"That's not the point! You let everyone think you were still missing or worse, DEAD! But no! You were hiding right under our noses!"

"Sam, calm down..." Megan insisted, noticing people were beginning to stare.

Sam shot her a look.

"And you, you're no better! You were supposed to be helping me find him!" he pointed a finger at Bumblebee."You never said anything about this either!"

Bumblebee tensed up, he wasn't about to let Sam attack his friends, that was for sure!

"Now hang on! They were only doing what I asked them to!" Bumblebee said."I didn't want Megan to say anything to you so she didn't! It's my business and I'll choose who I share it with!"

"And you did think to share it with me?"

Sam's voice had gotten loud enough to attract the attention of a bystander who's interest in the spat got the better of her and she went to check it out.

"What's going on here?" Elita asked with concern.

"Nothing," said Sam who was still glaring at Bumblebee and believed that people should just mind their own business.

Bumblebee rolled his eyes.

"Sam here is upset because I didn't tell him the truth about who I am," Bumblebee said with slight irritation.

Elita blew a raspberry as she tried to think about handling the situation or maybe she should walk away from it all together.

"Alright,seeing as I have no idea what the hell I'm getting myself into and...well, resolving conflicts insist my strong point, I'm going to say that was a bad move on your part," she said to Bumblebee."And..."

She stared blankly at Sam.

"You know? I don't know what to say to you! You're allowed to be mad at him? You should let it go..."

"You're really bad at this," Amber said.

"I know I am," Elita sighed."Doesn't hurt to try though."

Bumblebee let out a sigh.

"Look, Sam, I'm sorry I didn't tell you,she's right, it was a bad move on my part," he said,looking at his friend."Can you forgive me?"

Sam didn't know how to respond. Bumblebee had been missing for a month,and now he was asking for forgiveness? Forgiveness Sam wasn't ready to give him.

He was all to ready to tell him that, but when he met Bumblebee's gaze, he froze up.

It hadn't really occurred to Sam that the person standing in front of him was, in fact, _human._ Well, almost human,if anything could tell you that Bumblebee wasn't human, it was his eyes which were almost the exact same color his optics were.

He remembered all the times that same person had saved his sorry ass over the years, and listened when others wouldn't He was always there when Sam needed him most, surely he could forgive him for disappearing like he did.

He let out a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess," he said. He watched Bumblebee's face light up, a slight smile come on his face."Just don't go pulling anything like that on me again!"

"I won't! I promise!" Bumblebee said looking like his normal, cheerful self.

"Well, looks like my work her is done!" Elita said, rubbing her hands together in satisfaction.

Bumblebee stared at her.

"You realize you did absolutely nothing, right?"

"I know, I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything!" she said, rolling up the sleeves on her jacket.

Bumblebee shook his head.

"I don't get you sometimes," he told her.

"No one said you had to!" she retorted.

Sam watched the pair talk as if they were old friends. That's new, Bumblebee _talking_! He always used the radio to talk,but that doesn't really work for humans. Now? He was talking and laughing, no problem what so ever.

"Do they know each other?" Sam asked Megan and Amber.

"Yeah, they do," Megan said."That's Elita, she's one of them."

"Them meaning the Autobots, right?"

"Right."

"Why are they all human?" Sam asked."It doesn't make sense."

"I don't know about Ironhide, or Elita, but with Bumblebee we were thinking it was when some blood got on an Allspark shard that affected him." Megan explained.

"Wait, you had an Allspark shard?"

"Yeah, my dad dad found it,tried to hide it in our garage, but, that's never a good place to hide things..." she began to trail off.

There was an eruption of laughter from Elita and Bumblebee who were very much engrossed in their conversation.

"What's he like? As a human, I mean," Sam asked about Bumblebee.

"You know him better than we do, dude," Amber said."We've only known him for a month."

"Well,yeah,but, what's he like to do? You know, hobbies and stuff."

"He likes baseball," Megan said."He's a fan of the Nationals, kinda because that's my dad's favorite team, so he's only really watched those games."

"Baseball?" Sam questioned.

"What? You're surprised? He's actually pretty good a pitching..."

"You mean he's tried to play?"

"Of course! Didn't you ever try out different sports?"

Sam winced as he remembered the time he tried out for the football team in high school and ended up getting tackled to the ground.

"Y-yeah, sports weren't my thing in school..."

Megan looked at at Sam suspiciously, but let it go.

"He picks up on things really easily," she continued."He started learning Italian and Japanese because we had the books laying around, and he's pretty good a fixing cars."

That Sam wasn't so surprised about, if you've spent part of your life as a car,you're bound to know a thing or two about them.

They're conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Lennox, who looked worried.

"Hey,Lennox, we found Bumblebee," Sam said, nodding in the direction of the blonde human.

"Oh...that's good,but, we've got a problem," he replied.

Amber rolled her eyes.

"What now?" she groaned.

"Optimus is missing."

They all fell silent when they learned this news.

"Missing? How is he missing?" Bumblebee said."Big, blue and red Autobot how do you misplace that?"

"You're one to talk!" Megan said with a noise similar to a laugh."Big, yellow and black Autobot? Hello?"

"...Touche, Megan, Touche..."

Elita seemed the most worried out of all of them.

"How long has he been missing? When was the last time you saw him?" She began hounding Lennox with question after question.

"Easy, easy! I don't know where he's gone, I don't remember when we last saw him, all I know is he's not here," Lennox told her.

"It's you all over again," Sam said to Bumblebee.

"I'm not that big a problem,am I?"

"Well..."

"Don't,don't you dare," Bumblebee shook his head but laughed all the same.

"At the rate things are going, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Optimus is probably human."

"You think so?" Bumblebee questioned skeptically."How would he have done it?"

"I don't know," Amber shrugged."Maybe he willed himself that way."

"You really think Optimus is going to will himself into being human? I don't think that's possible!"

"Then you tell me where Optimus is!" Amber retorted.

"I'm not saying you're wrong about him being human, I'm just not sure how it happened.

"Hey! Guys!" Megan said, slapping Bumblebee's arm. She pointed to someone a little ways off from where they were."Who's that?"

The person she was pointing to had unkempt, jet black hair that came up in tufts all over his head and hung down slightly over his forehead. It was hard to tell from a distance what color the stranger's eyes were, but if they weren't mistaken,they were blue. His outfit was very plain, a black jacket, a red shirt, dark jeans, and black shoes.

There was something oddly familiar about him, as if they had all seen him before. The funny part was, non of them HAD seen him before, he was a complete stranger to them.

"...You don't think?" started Bumblebee.

"I'm not sure..." replied Megan.

"I've never seen him around here before..." commented Lennox.

"That's why I pointed him out! Have any of you ever seen him around here before?"

The collective answer was "No", so naturally they all began to assume that it was,in fact, the missing Prime.

"How do we know if it's him or not?" asked Amber.

"We could ask him," proposed Elita.

"You want to do it?"

"WHAT! No! Are you crazy!" she shouted, the idea obviously did not sit well with her.

"We could all at least stop staring at him," Bumblebee suggested."He might notice a whole crowd of people staring at him!"

They did just that, even though their collective curiosity made it nearly impossible. Bumblebee sighed.

"Fine,I'll go ask him!" he said, since no one else was bothering to do so.

Once Bumblebee was gone,Sam took this opportunity to ask Megan a nagging question.

"So, I have to ask; You and Bumblebee, are you two...you know, together?"

Megan gave him a wide eyed look.

"What? What the...Sam! Where would you get an idea like that!" she snapped back.

"I-I was just wondering! I'd be okay with it if you were! I just...you to seemed pretty close, he does live with you, doesn't he?"

"That doesn't mean we're together!" Megan's face was about as red as a cherry.

"...Do you WANT to be together?" Amber asked, having eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Are you asking me if I like him?" Megan inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure, let's go with that."

Megan wasn't sure, Bumblebee was a good friend, but, he was an Autobot, a completely different race from her own!

"We can't be together," she said."He's an Autobot, I'm a human. It wouldn't work..."

She seemed a little disappointed by her own findings. Amber,however, had another way of looking at the situation.

"Come on, Meg, he's human,what? 99.9% of the time? Why should him being an Autobot stop you? You like the guy, you like the guy."

Amber logic seemed to work for Megan, who thought it through a little more. Yeah, maybe she did like Bumblebee, maybe it could work. Did he like her back, however, that was the problem.

"I-I'll think about it..." she said.

"No, you go talk to that boy," Amber instructed."You like him? Tell him."

Amber's forwardness got the better of Megan who was still slightly pink in the face from Sam's question. Bumblebee was returning with the man they had assumed to be Optimus,so now was as good as any to talk to him. Amber shoved her over in Bumblebee's direction.

"Did you really have to do that?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I did," Amber replied."Megan's not very good at the relationship stuff, so I had to help her out."

"What about you? What do you know about relationships?"

"Oh! I have a boyfriend! He's just at MIT right now!" she told him.

"You're boyfriend goes to MIT?"

"Yup, found me a genius," she beamed. Something caught her attention and she pointed it out to Sam."See? What I tell you? All she had to do was talk to him."

Megan and Bumblebee embraced, the discussion had been an obvious success.

"Huh, he's doing better than I did."

"Yeah, well, you're Sam Witiwcky, he's not."

"...Touche."


End file.
